In this post, we’re going to look at a few of the more user-friendly options out there. Most of these plugins will work for you no matter what WordPress theme you are using.

Before we get into the plugins, let’s take a quick look at some reasons you would need a data visualization plugin in the first place.

Why use a Data Visualization Plugin on your WordPress site?

Data visualization is a fancy word for taking numbers (data) and converting them into graphics like charts, tables, and graphs.

One obvious example of a website where data is turned into graphs is Google Analytics. They take the data from your site and output several charts, tables, and graphs.

And you can do the same thing on your own website! Imagine you have a survey or poll running on a blog post. Wouldn’t it be cool to show a pie graph of the results after website visitors vote?

With the right plugin, you can turn your WordPress website into an interactive, visual masterpiece! And if you are trying to make money online, these kinds of features can really help attract and impress an audience.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at a few of the best WordPress data visualization plugins:

Formidable Forms is WordPress form plugin. That means it can help your website collect the data it needs to create visualizations.

But as you know, collecting data is only half the battle. You are reading this because you need a way to display it!

We’ve got some great news. Formidable Forms is your one-stop-shop! Not only can this plugin collect data, but it has features designed specifically to display it.

The first of these features is reports, charts, and graphs. With this feature, you can create a number of data visualizations including:

Column graphs

Horizontal bar graphs

Line graphs

Pie charts

Area graphs

Scatter graphs

Histograms

Stepped area graphs

Geographic heat maps

All it takes to display a chart on your site is a shortcode. Formidable’s graphics are generated using Google Charts, so they’ll never look dated or old fashioned.

And actually, this isn’t the only way you can use your data to paint a picture with Formidable.

You can also take advantage of Formidable’s Views feature. Formidable Forms is the only WordPress form builder plugin with Views built-in to display data anywhere you want on your site.

With views you can create not only visuals, but entire websites based on your data. Real estate listings, employment or classifieds listings, event calendars, directories, searchable databases - virtually anything you can imagine!

Most people with even a little bit of web design experience can tell you that data tables are a difficult thing to code & display responsively. It can get messy really fast, especially if you have a lot of data in the table.

This is where a plugin like wpDataTables really saves the day. In wpDataTables, you can create responsive WordPress tables & charts easily.

It’s even easy to see how your tables will function on smaller screens: just resize your browser window!

There are some other table plugins out there, but the key to wpDataTables is that they actually make tables look good. No wonder they are trusted by over 30,000 businesses!

Snowball may appear to be an under-used plugin, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful.

It’s a diverse data visualization plugin that is developed by the openHTML research team at Drexel University. They found themselves coding their own visualizations so often that they decided to make a plugin to simplify their lives!

And then they thought, “why not give this to anybody who wants it?” - how nice of them!

The cool thing about Snowball is that it does more than just visuals. It’s like a dedicated page builder that’s designed for journalists to create immersive articles.

Of course, the visualization features of Snowball really deliver too. You can make charts, graphs, maps and more. And there are many elements within those visuals that you can tweak as well.

Visualizer is another great data visualization plugin for WordPress. Its claim to fame revolves around interactive elements.

And although the free version is generous, with 9 types of chart, the premium version is where it really shines. You’ll get a bunch more options and even more chart types to choose from.

Visualizer can help you create interactive tables for your site, including pricing tables. This plugin is also applauded for how easy it is to use. If you are testing the waters of data visualization, be sure to give this one a try.

Easy Charts is another under-utilized yet powerful plugin. As you may have guessed, it specializes in the creation of charts.

That may sound like old news at this point, but they actually allow users to create some unique styles of charts. These include line charts, pie charts, donut charts, polar area charts, and waterfall charts.

The downside of this plugin is that it doesn’t allow for the collection of data by any means. However, if you have your data in hand, this could be a quick and easy way to display data on your site.